The Future of the Sports facilities (Jan '07)

St Francis Social and Sports Club is optimistic it can succeed in a bid for the land near the old St Francis Hospital on which footballers, bowls players, cricketers, stoolball players and swimmers enjoy their sports through agreements with the club.
The club is one of the organisations to express an interest in buying the land which at present is pretected as recreational area under planning policy.
The Mid Sussex Times had revealed several months ago that the NHS management had decided to sell the land because of its debt crisis including the swimming pool.
The club contended it had rights as a sitting tenant because it had used the land for so long.
The land was said to be unattractive to developers because of its designation for recreation.
The club had been examining the legal aspects of the situation and is confident it can buy the land in question. Club chairman, Paddy Henry said, 'We believe we are in a strong position and we have the funding.'